


Trains

by mmmdraco



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Community: fifthmus, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-18
Updated: 2012-12-18
Packaged: 2017-11-21 10:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/596473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmmdraco/pseuds/mmmdraco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nase knows, by now, how to avoid perverts on the train.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trains

Nase could tell her eyes were still a little dry from where she'd gotten lost in thought while blowdrying her bangs, but figured it wouldn't matter at an insei session. She dabbed on a hint of lip gloss and fluffed the ends of her hair before grabbing her bag and thick jacket and leaving the house. She got to Oshiage station a little early and leaned against a wall and watched a group of college students shove each other back and forth about something or other until her train arrived. She'd been doing this for long enough that she knew to skip the train that took her along the Asakusa line because it was populated by perverts even on Sunday morning. Another five minutes and she was able to hop on the Hanzoman line. 

It took her a little longer to get to the Ki-in that way since it popped her out on the Shinjuku line four stops further than taking the Asakusa, but it was worth it for the less crowded cars and the peace of mind of not having to worry about whether some handsy guy was going to grope her in a crowd. Some had tried even on her favored line when the cars were a little more packed than usual, but she'd taken martial arts for years while deciding on go's importance in her life, and a sharp twist of a groper's wrist did wonders.

She didn't hate old men even though it was mostly them who did that. Quite the opposite. She just didn't understand why the ones she normally dealt with were tolerable, even likeable, and the men on the train just set her stomach roiling. In her chosen profession of go, she was the exception rather than the rule. Learning go from the high edge of her grandfather's goban as he chain-smoked hand-rolled cigarettes; she was used to the old men. Even now, she would run into some of her grandfather's friends at the go parlors downtown and strike up a game and they'd ask her how she was holding up... as though she was still somehow being held back by his death four years afterward. But that wasn't it.

It was... It was being a woman who was trying to break into the ranks of the main league! She knew that she could have been playing in the women's league for years already because that was the fall back for women who were good, but not great. It was like a children's table or something and she wanted no part of it. But she wanted the great games. She wanted the universe to shine from the skill flowing through her fingertips that placed stone after glorious stone in order to dominate. That her skill level didn't quite match her imagination yet was a burr in her side, but she was limited only by herself and if she hadn't given up by now... she wasn't going to.

Breaking herself from her thoughts, she noticed her stop coming up and moved to the doors to get off and switch trains. It was a quick move from one to the other, though she did frown at how crowded the Shinjuku line was that day. She didn't manage to get a seat, but she found a handhold near one of the corners of the train car where she could lean against a wall a bit and was especially glad of it when she saw one of the men who had actually been brazen enough to lay a hand on her before. They'd only gone a few stops when Nase noticed another girl get on the train who was a little younger than her. She stood directly in front of the old man and Nase sighed as she let go of her handhold and began moving through the people in the car. 

She grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her back toward the corner where she shoved her there gently and leaned her back against the wall. "You should really know better by now to be that cute and wear a skirt that short on the train. That guy behind you looked like his eyes were going to bug out."

The girl shrank back a little at her words and then looked down at her skirt. "Huh? But it's the same length as my uniform skirt."

Nase rolled her eyes. "Why do they even do that? I just want to wear pants sometimes. Y'know, to change it up!"

The other girl smiled. "I love when we can wear something a little different. Where do you go to school at, anyway?"

"Well, I go to Ueno High, but if I can get the job I've been wanting, then I won't bother going anymore." Nase grinned and tried to imagine it.

"A friend of mine dropped out of school for his job. Oh! I'm Fujisaki Akari, by the way." She held out her hand.

Nase took the proferred hand and shook it. "I'm Nase Asumi. What does your friend do? There can't be many of us doing things like that."

Fujisaki laughed. "You're going to think it's dumb, but he plays go for a living now."

Nase froze. "That's... That's what I'm trying to do. Who is he? I probably know him." She leaned in toward Fujisaki and overbalanced herself so that she had to catch herself against the wall on either side of the other girl's face.

"Shindou Hikaru?" Fujisaki's breath skimmed Nase's cheek as she spoke.

Pushing herself back, Nase laughed. "Yeah, I know him. He was in the insei with me. Why is he so damned good anyway?"

Fujisaki shrugged. "I don't think anyone knows the answer to that. He just kills me on the board every time."

Nase's eyes widened. "You play?"

"Not a lot!" Fujisaki flipped some of her hair back off of the shoulder of her peacoat. "I'm in the go club and I play Hikaru and I go to a local go class sometimes, but I'm quite happy to be an amateur."

"Do you... Do you maybe want to play me sometime? There's so many guys in go that us girls have to stick together, right?"

Fujisaki smiled and reached into her bag for a pen. "Exactly. Do you have something for me to write my number on?"

Nase opened her bag and saw only one thing that could be really written on: a wadded up NcDonald's receipt with a piece of gum inside it. She reached for her phone, but held off and looked back at Fujisaki. "Just write it on my arm."

Uncapping the pen with her teeth, Fujisaki grabbed Nase's left arm and lifted it upward, shoved back her sleeve and began to write her name and number in long, careful strokes. "Can you read that okay?" she asked as she capped the pen and tapped it against her palm.

Her mouth suddenly dry, Nase nodded and tried her best to speak her next works instead of croaking them. "Do you want my number, too?"

Fujisaki shook her head. "Nope. I want you to call me when you're not busy and we can have a lot of time for a game. I'll clear my schedule for you."

"I could skip my insei session today," Nase found herself saying even though she'd only missed one time since she'd started going.

"What? No!" Fujisaki laughed. "That's important. But, I'll be home tonight if you're up for something. Or if you wanted to skip _school_ tomorrow..." She laughed harder. "I shouldn't say things like that. I'm not actually much of a bad girl."

Nase glanced to see that they were pulling up to her station. "Crap! The Ki-in! I've got to go, but I'll call you! Soon! She waved to Fujisaki as she shoved herself through the train car and just barely made it out of the train car. Walking the last meter or two so that she could lean against the wall and watch the train take off again, Nase found herself getting lost in thought again.

It just wasn't a woman's world out there, but maybe that made it all the more important to be a strong woman with conviction. She pumped a fist into the air and ran up the steps of the station toward the Ki-in. She was going to keep trying to become a pro until she made it or they told her she couldn't come back, and no one was going to stop her!

The sky was an amazingly bright blue as Nase ran out to greet it with the air crisp in her lungs. She headed toward the Ki-in with a bounce in her step and a cute girl's phone number on her arm.


End file.
